Lance Armstrong has refuted claims made by the United States Anti-Doping Agency that he offered it a substantial donation while he was under investigation by the organisation.

Lance Armstrong has refuted claims made by the United States Anti-Doping Agency that he offered it a substantial donation while he was under investigation by the organisation.

USADA’s inquiry led to Armstrong’s downfall and its chief executive Travis Tygart told “60 Minutes Sports” last week that the 41-year-old Texan made the offer last year.

In the second part of his television interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong said: “I had no knowledge of that, but I’ve asked around. I think the claim was 250,000 dollars. That’s a lot of money. I would know. That is not true.”

Co-operation with USADA appears as distant as ever as Armstrong also again denied doping during his comeback to cycling in 2009 and 2010, despite evidence to the contrary in USADA’s report.

A USADA spokesperson said in a statement issued to Press Association Sport: “We stand by the facts both in the reasoned decision and in the 60 Minutes interview.”

Armstrong was emotional in the second and final instalment of his interview with talk-show host Winfrey.

He claimed he was undergoing therapy to deal with his demons and said he felt he deserved to be able to return to competition at some point following his confession to doping.

After years of denials, Armstrong has confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de France victories. He was stripped of all results from August 1, 1998 and banned from sport for life after refusing to cooperate with USADA’s investigation.

He insisted he had stuck to a pact made with first wife Kristin that he would not dope during his comeback to cycling; was tearful when addressing the fact his 13-year-old son Luke defended him; and insisted this confessional was not the most challenging time in his life. That was his successful battle with cancer.

The Oprah Winfrey Network insisted Armstrong did not receive a fee for the interview, which was broadcast over two nights, and was not offered one.

In the first 90-minute interview, Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs to win seven successive Tours from 1999 to 2005, denied doping during his comeback from retirement in 2009, when he finished third in the Tour, and 2010 and refuted suggestions he paid off cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, to cover up a positive test in 2001.

He expressed that, in hindsight, he wishes he had co-operated with USADA. Co-operation could have meant a lesser penalty, rather than an lifelong ban.

Armstrong was competing in triathlons, mountain bike events and marathons before he was sanctioned and believes he deserves that opportunity in the future, suggesting a life ban was not right.

In the second part of the interview, he said: “I can’t lie to you. I’d love the opportunity to be able to compete, but that isn’t the reason that I’m doing this.

“Frankly, this might not be the most popular answer, but I think I deserve it (to be able to compete again).

“I deserve to be punished. I’m not sure that I deserve a death penalty.”

Eleven of Armstrong’s former team-mates provided evidence against him in exchange for six-month suspensions.

He added: “If you look at the situation, if you look at that culture, you look at the sport, you see the punishments. I could go back to that time... you’re trading my story for a six-month suspension. That’s what people got. What everybody got.

Asked whether he believes his life ban should be overturned, he said: “Selfishly, yes. But realistically I don’t think that’s going to happen. And I have to live with that.”

As the evidence mounted against him following the publication of the USADA report, Armstrong’s long-time sponsors each deserted him in quick succession, but the most challenging moment was when his own Lance Armstrong Foundation, the charity known now as Livestrong, distanced itself from him.

“The foundation is like my sixth child and to make that decision, and to step aside, was big,” said Armstrong, who expressed his wish the charity can thrive without being associated with him.

“That was the lowest [moment].”

Money is a concern after his sponsors departed. His admission has exposed him to numerous lawsuits, too.

“I’ve lost all future income,” he said.

“I don’t like thinking about it, but that was a 75million-dollar day. Gone. And probably never coming back.”

Asked if he feels disgraced, Armstrong said: “Of course, but I also feel humbled. I feel ashamed. This is ugly stuff.

“It’s a process. And I think we’re at the beginning of the process.”

The process still appears to have some way to go.

Winfrey asked Armstrong “Did anyone know the whole truth?” He replied “Yeah,” but there was no follow-up to ascertain who.

Armstrong spoke about Kristin, who, he said, approved his comeback, provided he did not dope again. He maintains the last time he doped was during his 2005 Tour de France win.

“I never would have betrayed that with her,” Armstrong said.

“It was a serious ask, a serious commitment. She gave me her blessing.

“If she would have said ’no, I don’t like this idea [a comeback]’ I would not have done it. But I gave her my word and I did stick to it.”

Armstrong returned believing he could win an eighth Tour – and win it without using drugs – but he finished third in the 2009 race.

He said: “I thought, and I still think, that the sport was fairly clean. There really was a major shift in the mid-2000s with the biological passport (a programme plotting historical blood values to ascertain whether drugs are being used by an athlete).

“I didn’t expect to get third, I expected to win, like I always expected. At the end I said to myself ’I just got beat, by two guys that are better’.”

On Kristin, he added: “She believes that the truth will set you free.”

It was something he would have to address with his own son after discovering Luke was defending him at school.

He was emotional in addressing the subject, with tears welling up in his eyes, and he hesitated in giving answers, his voice croaking.

Armstrong said: “That’s when I knew I had to tell him. He’d never asked me. He’d never said ’Dad, is this true?’ He trusted me. He heard about it in the hallways.

“I said ’Don’t defend me anymore’. I said ’If anyone says anything to you, do not defend me. Just say my dad said he was sorry’.

“He said ’look, I love you, you’re my dad, this won’t change that’.

“Thank God he’s more like Kristin.”

Armstrong claimed surviving testicular cancer in 1996 made him more determined to win, yet he also claims it made him a better person.

Asked whether he feels his use of drugs contributed to developing testicular cancer, he said: “I don’t think so. I’m not a doctor. I’ve never had a doctor suggest that.”

Armstrong says his greatest concern throughout his long, drawn-out admission of guilt, is his five children.

He said: “This conversation will live forever. Everything that we do today. That dumb tweet with the yellow jerseys lives forever.

“I’ve got to get that right for them as they enter the depth of their lives.”

Meanwhile, the Oprah Winfrey Network has announced 4.3m viewers watched the first episode, with 600,000 online streams from 190 countries around the world.

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